Makin’ Bacon

We buy half a pig from our friend Mike and along with the chops and hocks and roasts the butcher gives us the option of having the hams and bellies processed. We’ve tried it, and didn’t care much for the results, which means dealing with our own hams and bacon.

Thankfully, bacon is not terribly hard to make at home. You simply rub the meat with a mix of kosher salt, “pink” salt (sodium nitrate), maple sugar and maple syrup. The meat cures, covered, in the refrigerator for a week. allowing the salt and maple flavors to penetrate. It’s then unwrapped and allowed to dry a further 12 to 24 hours in the fridge, then smoked about three hours to an internal temperature of 150 degrees Fahrenheit. We use hickory chips in our small, electric barrel smoker for this. But you can accomplish the same thing with a Weber grill.

And just look at the delicious results. We celebrated last night with BLTs–in this case fried green tomatoes out of the garden with our home-smoked bacon. It’s so good, you may never buy bacon at the store again.